JCSA says members restive over wage negotiations

Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) says its members are restive over negotiations.

According to the JCSA, there have been several unsuccessful formal and informal appeals to the Finance Ministry to settle their negotiations.

The JCSA represents some 30,000 members.

"There has been no perceptible movement by the Ministry to convene and settle the outstanding negotiation items that have not been adjusted since 2017," said a JCSA spokesperson in a statement.

The ministry has proposed to absorb, restructure and or discontinue some of the allowances that were negotiated for over many decades.

The JCSA says its members have become extremely anxious that the ministry may attempt to use the rates from five years ago as the basis to determine the total compensation of public sector employees.

"There has been a significant deterioration in the value of those rates since they were established in 2017 and to use those rates as the basis of any restructuring of compensation will cause a real decline in the wages of the public sector employees," the JCSA spokesperson said.

It said if there is no meeting before Friday, February 25, 2022, with a view to settling the association's claims for 2017 to present, normalcy in the service cannot be guaranteed.

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